Systems and methods to facilitate infrastructure installation checks and corrections in a distributed environment

ABSTRACT

Methods and apparatus to facilitate infrastructure installation checks and corrections in a distributed environment are disclosed. An example apparatus includes a virtual appliance including a management endpoint. The example apparatus includes a component server including a management agent to communicate with the management endpoint. The virtual appliance is to assign a role to the component server and to determine a subset of prerequisites associated with the role based on an applicability to the role. Each of the subset of prerequisites is associated with an error correction script. The component server is to determine whether the component server satisfies the subset of prerequisites associated with the role. The component server is to address an error when the component server is determined not to satisfy at least one of the subset of prerequisites by executing the error correction script associated with the at least one of the subset of prerequisites.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This patent claims priority as a continuation to U.S. Non-Provisionalapplication Ser. No. 15/370,677, entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS TOFACILITATE INFRASTRUCTURE INSTALLATION CHECKS AND CORRECTIONS IN ADISTRIBUTED ENVIRONMENT” which was filed on Dec. 6, 2016, and is herebyincorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to cloud computing and, moreparticularly, to methods and apparatus to facilitate infrastructureinstallation checks and corrections in a distributed environment such asa cloud computing environment.

BACKGROUND

Virtualizing computer systems provide benefits such as an ability toexecute multiple computer systems on a single hardware computer,replicating computer systems, moving computer systems among multiplehardware computers, and so forth.

“Infrastructure-as-a-Service” (also commonly referred to as “IaaS”)generally describes a suite of technologies provided as an integratedsolution to allow for elastic creation of a virtualized, networked, andpooled computing platform (sometimes referred to as a “cloud computingplatform”). Enterprises may use IaaS as a business-internalorganizational cloud computing platform (sometimes referred to as a“private cloud”) that gives an application developer access toinfrastructure resources, such as virtualized servers, storage, andnetworking resources. By providing ready access to the hardwareresources required to run an application, the cloud computing platformenables developers to build, deploy, and manage the lifecycle of a webapplication (or any other type of networked application) at a greaterscale and at a faster pace than ever before.

Cloud computing environments may include many processing units (e.g.,servers). Other components of a cloud computing environment includestorage devices, networking devices (e.g., switches), etc. Current cloudcomputing environment configuration relies on much manual user input andconfiguration to install, configure, and deploy the components of thecloud computing environment.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 depicts an example system constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example generation of a multi-machine blueprint bythe example blueprint manager of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example installation of deployed virtual machinesand associated servers acting as hosts for deployment of componentservers for a customer.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example implementation of a virtual appliance.

FIG. 4B illustrates a block diagram of an example implementation of amanagement agent.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example system configuration in which themanagement endpoint and the management agent communicate with a trigger.

FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate example data flow diagrams showing an exchange ofinformation between an appliance and a component server forinstallation.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example configuration of services by a virtualappliance with respect to component servers across a firewall.

FIGS. 8-9 depict a flowcharts representative of computer readableinstructions that may be executed to implement example infrastructureinstallation.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example processing platform capable ofexecuting the example machine-readable instructions of FIGS. 8-9.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Cloud computing is based on the deployment of many physical resourcesacross a network, virtualizing the physical resources into virtualresources, and provisioning the virtual resources to perform cloudcomputing services and applications. Example systems for virtualizingcomputer systems are described in U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/903,374, entitled “METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REALMACHINES,” filed Sep. 21, 2007, and granted as U.S. Pat. No. 8,171,485,U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 60/919,965, entitled “METHOD ANDSYSTEM FOR MANAGING VIRTUAL AND REAL MACHINES,” filed March 26, 2007,and U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/736,422, entitled“METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR VIRTUALIZED COMPUTING,” filed Dec. 12, 2012,all three of which are hereby incorporated herein by reference in theirentirety.

Cloud computing platforms may provide many powerful capabilities forperforming computing operations. However, taking advantage of thesecomputing capabilities manually may be complex and/or requiresignificant training and/or expertise. Prior techniques to providingcloud computing platforms and services often require customers tounderstand details and configurations of hardware and software resourcesto establish and configure the cloud computing platform. Methods andapparatus disclosed herein facilitate the management of virtual machineresources in cloud computing platforms.

A virtual machine is a software computer that, like a physical computer,runs an operating system and applications. An operating system installedon a virtual machine is referred to as a guest operating system. Becauseeach virtual machine is an isolated computing environment, virtualmachines (VMs) can be used as desktop or workstation environments, astesting environments, to consolidate server applications, etc. Virtualmachines can run on hosts or clusters. The same host can run a pluralityof VMs, for example.

As disclosed in detail herein, methods and apparatus disclosed hereinprovide for automation of management tasks such as provisioning multiplevirtual machines for a multiple-machine computing system (e.g., a groupof servers that inter-operate), linking provisioned virtual machines andtasks to desired systems to execute those virtual machines or tasks,and/or reclaiming cloud computing resources that are no longer in use.The improvements to cloud management systems (e.g., the vCloudAutomation Center (vCAC) from VMware®, the vRealize Automation CloudAutomation Software from VMware®), interfaces, portals, etc. disclosedherein may be utilized individually and/or in any combination. Forexample, all or a subset of the described improvements may be utilized.

As used herein, availability refers to the level of redundancy requiredto provide continuous operation expected for the workload domain. Asused herein, performance refers to the computer processing unit (CPU)operating speeds (e.g., CPU gigahertz (GHz)), memory (e.g., gigabytes(GB) of random access memory (RAM)), mass storage (e.g., GB hard drivedisk (HDD), GB solid state drive (SSD)), and power capabilities of aworkload domain. As used herein, capacity refers to the aggregate numberof resources (e.g., aggregate storage, aggregate CPU, etc.) across allservers associated with a cluster and/or a workload domain. In examplesdisclosed herein, the number of resources (e.g., capacity) for aworkload domain is determined based on the redundancy, the CPU operatingspeed, the memory, the storage, the security, and/or the powerrequirements selected by a user. For example, more resources arerequired for a workload domain as the user-selected requirementsincrease (e.g., higher redundancy, CPU speed, memory, storage, security,and/or power options require more resources than lower redundancy, CPUspeed, memory, storage, security, and/or power options).

Example Virtualization Environments

Many different types of virtualization environments exist. Three exampletypes of virtualization environment are: full virtualization,paravirtualization, and operating system virtualization.

Full virtualization, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine. In a full virtualizationenvironment, the virtual machines do not have direct access to theunderlying hardware resources. In a typical full virtualizationenvironment, a host operating system with embedded hypervisor (e.g.,VMware ESXi®) is installed on the server hardware. Virtual machinesincluding virtual hardware resources are then deployed on thehypervisor. A guest operating system is installed in the virtualmachine. The hypervisor manages the association between the hardwareresources of the server hardware and the virtual resources allocated tothe virtual machines (e.g., associating physical random access memory(RAM) with virtual RAM). Typically, in full virtualization, the virtualmachine and the guest operating system have no visibility and/or directaccess to the hardware resources of the underlying server. Additionally,in full virtualization, a full guest operating system is typicallyinstalled in the virtual machine while a host operating system isinstalled on the server hardware. Example full virtualizationenvironments include VMware ESX®, Microsoft Hyper-V®, and Kernel BasedVirtual Machine (KVM).

Paravirtualization, as used herein, is a virtualization environment inwhich hardware resources are managed by a hypervisor to provide virtualhardware resources to a virtual machine and guest operating systems arealso allowed direct access to some or all of the underlying hardwareresources of the server (e.g., without accessing an intermediate virtualhardware resource). In a typical paravirtualization system, a hostoperating system (e.g., a Linux-based operating system) is installed onthe server hardware. A hypervisor (e.g., the Xen® hypervisor) executeson the host operating system. Virtual machines including virtualhardware resources are then deployed on the hypervisor. The hypervisormanages the association between the hardware resources of the serverhardware and the virtual resources allocated to the virtual machines(e.g., associating physical random access memory (RAM) with virtualRAM). In paravirtualization, the guest operating system installed in thevirtual machine is configured also to have direct access to some or allof the hardware resources of the server. For example, the guestoperating system may be precompiled with special drivers that allow theguest operating system to access the hardware resources without passingthrough a virtual hardware layer. For example, a guest operating systemmay be precompiled with drivers that allow the guest operating system toaccess a sound card installed in the server hardware. Directly accessingthe hardware (e.g., without accessing the virtual hardware resources ofthe virtual machine) may be more efficient, may allow for performance ofoperations that are not supported by the virtual machine and/or thehypervisor, etc.

Operating system virtualization is also referred to herein as containervirtualization. As used herein, operating system virtualization refersto a system in which processes are isolated in an operating system. In atypical operating system virtualization system, a host operating systemis installed on the server hardware. Alternatively, the host operatingsystem may be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. The host operatingsystem of an operating system virtualization system is configured (e.g.,utilizing a customized kernel) to provide isolation and resourcemanagement for processes that execute within the host operating system(e.g., applications that execute on the host operating system). Theisolation of the processes is known as a container. Several containersmay share a host operating system. Thus, a process executing within acontainer is isolated the process from other processes executing on thehost operating system. Thus, operating system virtualization providesisolation and resource management capabilities without the resourceoverhead utilized by a full virtualization environment or aparavirtualization environment. Alternatively, the host operating systemmay be installed in a virtual machine of a full virtualizationenvironment or a paravirtualization environment. Example operatingsystem virtualization environments include Linux Containers LXC and LXD,Docker™, OpenVZ™, etc.

In some instances, a data center (or pool of linked data centers) mayinclude multiple different virtualization environments. For example, adata center may include hardware resources that are managed by a fullvirtualization environment, a paravirtualization environment, and anoperating system virtualization environment. In such a data center, aworkload may be deployed to any of the virtualization environments.

FIG. 1 depicts an example system 100 constructed in accordance with theteachings of this disclosure for managing a cloud computing platform.The example system 100 includes an application director 106 and a cloudmanager 138 to manage a cloud computing platform provider 110 asdescribed in more detail below. As described herein, the example system100 facilitates management of the cloud provider 110 and does notinclude the cloud provider 110. Alternatively, the system 100 could beincluded in the cloud provider 110.

The cloud computing platform provider 110 provisions virtual computingresources (e.g., virtual machines, or “VMs,” 114) that may be accessedby users of the cloud computing platform 110 (e.g., users associatedwith an administrator 116 and/or a developer 118) and/or other programs,software, device. etc.

An example application 102 of FIG. 1 includes multiple VMs 114. Theexample VMs 114 of FIG. 1 provide different functions within theapplication 102 (e.g., services, portions of the application 102, etc.).One or more of the VMs 114 of the illustrated example are customized byan administrator 116 and/or a developer 118 of the application 102relative to a stock or out-of-the-box (e.g., commonly availablepurchased copy) version of the services and/or application components.Additionally, the services executing on the example VMs 114 may havedependencies on other ones of the VMs 114.

As illustrated in FIG. 1, the example cloud computing platform provider110 may provide multiple deployment environments 112, for example, fordevelopment, testing, staging, and/or production of applications. Theadministrator 116, the developer 118, other programs, and/or otherdevices may access services from the cloud computing platform provider110, for example, via REST (Representational State Transfer) APIs(Application Programming Interface) and/or via any other client-servercommunication protocol. Example implementations of a REST API for cloudcomputing services include a vCloud Administrator Center™ (vCAC) and/orvRealize Automation™ (vRA) API and a vCloud Director™ API available fromVMware, Inc. The example cloud computing platform provider 110provisions virtual computing resources (e.g., the VMs 114) to providethe deployment environments 112 in which the administrator 116 and/orthe developer 118 can deploy multi-tier application(s). One particularexample implementation of a deployment environment that may be used toimplement the deployment environments 112 of FIG. 1 is vCloud DataCentercloud computing services available from VMware, Inc.

In some examples disclosed herein, a lighter-weight virtualization isemployed by using containers in place of the VMs 114 in the developmentenvironment 112. Example containers 114 a are software constructs thatrun on top of a host operating system without the need for a hypervisoror a separate guest operating system. Unlike virtual machines, thecontainers 114 a do not instantiate their own operating systems. Likevirtual machines, the containers 114 a are logically separate from oneanother. Numerous containers can run on a single computer, processorsystem and/or in the same development environment 112. Also like virtualmachines, the containers 114 a can execute instances of applications orprograms (e.g., an example application 102 a) separate fromapplication/program instances executed by the other containers in thesame development environment 112.

The example application director 106 of FIG. 1, which may be running inone or more VMs, orchestrates deployment of multi-tier applications ontoone of the example deployment environments 112. As illustrated in FIG.1, the example application director 106 includes a topology generator120, a deployment plan generator 122, and a deployment director 124.

The example topology generator 120 generates a basic blueprint 126 thatspecifies a logical topology of an application to be deployed. Theexample basic blueprint 126 generally captures the structure of anapplication as a collection of application components executing onvirtual computing resources. For example, the basic blueprint 126generated by the example topology generator 120 for an online storeapplication may specify a web application (e.g., in the form of a Javaweb application archive or “WAR” file including dynamic web pages,static web pages, Java servlets, Java classes, and/or other property,configuration and/or resources files that make up a Java webapplication) executing on an application server (e.g., Apache Tomcatapplication server) that uses a database (e.g., MongoDB) as a datastore. As used herein, the term “application” generally refers to alogical deployment unit, including one or more application packages andtheir dependent middleware and/or operating systems. Applications may bedistributed across multiple VMs. Thus, in the example described above,the term “application” refers to the entire online store application,including application server and database components, rather than justthe web application itself. In some instances, the application mayinclude the underlying hardware and/or virtual computing hardwareutilized to implement the components.

The example basic blueprint 126 of FIG. 1 may be assembled from items(e.g., templates) from a catalog 130, which is a listing of availablevirtual computing resources (e.g., VMs, networking, storage, etc.) thatmay be provisioned from the cloud computing platform provider 110 andavailable application components (e.g., software services, scripts, codecomponents, application-specific packages) that may be installed on theprovisioned virtual computing resources. The example catalog 130 may bepre-populated and/or customized by an administrator 116 (e.g., IT(Information Technology) or system administrator) that enters inspecifications, configurations, properties, and/or other details aboutitems in the catalog 130. Based on the application, the exampleblueprints 126 may define one or more dependencies between applicationcomponents to indicate an installation order of the applicationcomponents during deployment. For example, since a load balancer usuallycannot be configured until a web application is up and running, thedeveloper 118 may specify a dependency from an Apache service to anapplication code package.

The example deployment plan generator 122 of the example applicationdirector 106 of FIG. 1 generates a deployment plan 128 based on thebasic blueprint 126 that includes deployment settings for the basicblueprint 126 (e.g., virtual computing resources' cluster size, CPU,memory, networks, etc.) and an execution plan of tasks having aspecified order in which virtual computing resources are provisioned andapplication components are installed, configured, and started. Theexample deployment plan 128 of FIG. 1 provides an IT administrator witha process-oriented view of the basic blueprint 126 that indicatesdiscrete actions to be performed to deploy the application. Differentdeployment plans 128 may be generated from a single basic blueprint 126to test prototypes (e.g., new application versions), to scale up and/orscale down deployments, and/or to deploy the application to differentdeployment environments 112 (e.g., testing, staging, production). Thedeployment plan 128 is separated and distributed as local deploymentplans having a series of tasks to be executed by the VMs 114 provisionedfrom the deployment environment 112. Each VM 114 coordinates executionof each task with a centralized deployment module (e.g., the deploymentdirector 124) to ensure that tasks are executed in an order thatcomplies with dependencies specified in the application blueprint 126.

The example deployment director 124 of FIG. 1 executes the deploymentplan 128 by communicating with the cloud computing platform provider 110via a cloud interface 132 to provision and configure the VMs 114 in thedeployment environment 112. The example cloud interface 132 of FIG. 1provides a communication abstraction layer by which the applicationdirector 106 may communicate with a heterogeneous mixture of cloudprovider 110 and deployment environments 112. The deployment director124 provides each VM 114 with a series of tasks specific to thereceiving VM 114 (herein referred to as a “local deployment plan”).Tasks are executed by the VMs 114 to install, configure, and/or startone or more application components. For example, a task may be a scriptthat, when executed by a VM 114, causes the VM 114 to retrieve andinstall particular software packages from a central package repository134. The example deployment director 124 coordinates with the VMs 114 toexecute the tasks in an order that observes installation dependenciesbetween VMs 114 according to the deployment plan 128. After theapplication has been deployed, the application director 106 may beutilized to monitor and/or modify (e.g., scale) the deployment.

The example cloud manager 138 of FIG. 1 interacts with the components ofthe system 100 (e.g., the application director 106 and the cloudprovider 110) to facilitate the management of the resources of the cloudprovider 110. The example cloud manager 138 includes a blueprint manager140 to facilitate the creation and management of multi-machineblueprints and a resource manager 144 to reclaim unused cloud resources.The cloud manager 138 may additionally include other components formanaging a cloud environment.

The example blueprint manager 140 of the illustrated example manages thecreation of multi-machine blueprints that define the attributes ofmultiple virtual machines as a single group that can be provisioned,deployed, managed, etc. as a single unit. For example, a multi-machineblueprint may include definitions for multiple basic blueprints thatmake up a service (e.g., an e-commerce provider that includes webservers, application servers, and database servers). A basic blueprintis a definition of policies (e.g., hardware policies, security policies,network policies, etc.) for a single machine (e.g., a single virtualmachine such as a web server virtual machine and/or container).Accordingly, the blueprint manager 140 facilitates more efficientmanagement of multiple virtual machines and/or containers than manuallymanaging (e.g., deploying) basic blueprints individually. Examplemanagement of multi-machine blueprints is described in further detail inconjunction with FIG. 2.

The example blueprint manager 140 of FIG. 1 additionally annotates basicblueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints to control how workflowsassociated with the basic blueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints areexecuted. As used herein, a workflow is a series of actions anddecisions to be executed in a virtual computing platform. The examplesystem 100 includes first and second distributed execution manager(s)(DEM(s)) 146A and 146B to execute workflows. According to theillustrated example, the first DEM 146A includes a first set ofcharacteristics and is physically located at a first location 148A. Thesecond DEM 146B includes a second set of characteristics and isphysically located at a second location 148B. The location andcharacteristics of a DEM may make that DEM more suitable for performingcertain workflows. For example, a DEM may include hardware particularlysuited for performance of certain tasks (e.g., high-end calculations),may be located in a desired area (e.g., for compliance with local lawsthat require certain operations to be physically performed within acountry's boundaries), may specify a location or distance to other DEMSfor selecting a nearby DEM (e.g., for reducing data transmissionlatency), etc. Thus, the example blueprint manager 140 annotates basicblueprints and/or multi-machine blueprints with capabilities that can beperformed by a DEM that is labeled with the same or similarcapabilities.

The resource manager 144 of the illustrated example facilitates recoveryof cloud computing resources of the cloud provider 110 that are nolonger being activity utilized. Automated reclamation may includeidentification, verification and/or reclamation of unused,underutilized, etc. resources to improve the efficiency of the runningcloud infrastructure.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example implementation of the blueprint 126 as amulti-machine blueprint generated by the example blueprint manager 140of FIG. 1. In the illustrated example of FIG. 2, three example basicblueprints (a web server blueprint 202, an application server blueprint204, and a database (DB) server blueprint 206) have been created (e.g.,by the topology generator 120). For example, the web server blueprint202, the application server blueprint 204, and the database serverblueprint 206 may define the components of an e-commerce online store.

The example blueprint manager 140 provides a user interface for a userof the blueprint manager 140 (e.g., the administrator 116, the developer118, etc.) to specify blueprints (e.g., basic blueprints and/ormulti-machine blueprints) to be assigned to an instance of amulti-machine blueprint 208. For example, the user interface may includea list of previously generated basic blueprints (e.g., the web serverblueprint 202, the application server blueprint 204, the database serverblueprint 206, etc.) to allow selection of desired blueprints. Theblueprint manager 140 combines the selected blueprints into thedefinition of the multi-machine blueprint 208 and stores informationabout the blueprints in a multi-machine blueprint record defining themulti-machine blueprint 208. The blueprint manager 140 may additionallyinclude a user interface to specify other characteristics correspondingto the multi-machine blueprint 208. For example, a creator of themulti-machine blueprint 208 may specify a minimum number and a maximumnumber of each blueprint component of the multi-machine blueprint 208that may be provisioned during provisioning of the multi-machineblueprint 208.

Accordingly, any number of virtual machines (e.g., the virtual machinesassociated with the blueprints in the multi-machine blueprint 208)and/or containers may be managed collectively. For example, the multiplevirtual machines corresponding to the multi-machine blueprint 208 may beprovisioned based on an instruction to provision the multi-machineblueprint 208, may be power cycled by an instruction, may be shut downby an instruction, may be booted by an instruction, etc. As illustratedin FIG. 2, an instruction to provision the multi-machine blueprint 208may result in the provisioning of a multi-machine service formed fromone or more VMs 114 that includes virtualized web server(s) 210A,virtualized application server(s) 210B, and virtualized databaseserver(s) 210C. The number of virtual machines and/or containersprovisioned for each blueprint may be specified during the provisioningof the multi-machine blueprint 208 (e.g., subject to the limitsspecified during creation or management of the multi-machine blueprint208).

The multi-machine blueprint 208 maintains the reference to the basicblueprints 202, 204, 206. Accordingly, changes made to the blueprints(e.g., by a manager of the blueprints different than the manager of themulti-machine blueprint 208) may be incorporated into futureprovisioning of the multi-machine blueprint 208. Accordingly, anadministrator maintaining the source blueprints (e.g., an administratorcharged with managing the web server blueprint 202) may change or updatethe source blueprint and the changes may be automatically propagated tothe machines provisioned from the multi-machine blueprint 208. Forexample, if an operating system update is applied to a disk imagereferenced by the web server blueprint 202 (e.g., a disk image embodyingthe primary disk of the web server blueprint 202), the updated diskimage is utilized when deploying the multi-machine blueprint.Additionally, the blueprints may specify that the machines 210A, 210B,210C of the multi-machine service 210 provisioned from the multi-machineblueprint 208 operate in different environments. For example, somecomponents may be physical machines, some may be on-premise virtualmachines, and some may be virtual machines at a cloud service.

Several multi-machine blueprints may be generated to provide one or morevaried or customized services. For example, if virtual machines deployedin the various States of the United States require different settings, amulti-machine blueprint could be generated for each state. Themulti-machine blueprints could reference the same build profile and/ordisk image, but may include different settings specific to each state.For example, the deployment workflow may include an operation to set alocality setting of an operating system to identify a particular statein which a resource is physically located. Thus, a single disk image maybe utilized for multiple multi-machine blueprints reducing the amount ofstorage space for storing disk images compared with storing a disk imagefor each customized setting.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example installation of deployed appliances orvirtual appliances (vAs) (e.g., VMs 114 and/or containers 114 a)andassociated virtualized servers acting as hosts for deployment ofcomponent servers (e.g., Web server, application server, databaseserver, etc.) for a customer. The vAs can be deployed as an automationtool, for example, used to deliver VMs and associated applications foron-premise automation and/or handling of external cloud resources (e.g.,Microsoft Azure™, Amazon Web Services™, etc.).

As shown in the example of FIG. 3, an installation 300 includes a loadbalancer (LB) 310 to assign tasks and/or manage access among a pluralityof vAs 320, 322, 324. Each vA 320-324 is a deployed VM 114 and/orcontainer 114 a. In this example, the vA 320 communicates with aplurality of component or host servers 330, 332, 334, 336 which storecomponents for execution by users (e.g., Web server 210A with Webcomponents, App server 210B with application components, DB server 210Cwith database components, etc.). As shown in the example of FIG. 3,component servers 334, 336 can stem from component server 330 ratherthan (or in addition to) directly from the virtual appliance 320,although the vA 320 can still communicate with such servers 334, 336.The LB 310 enables the multiple vAs 320-324 and multiple servers 330-336to appear as one device to a user. Access to functionality can then bedistributed among appliances 320-324 by the LB 310 and among servers330-336 by the respective appliance 320, for example. The LB 310 can useleast response time, round-robin, and/or other method to balance trafficto vAs 320-324 and servers 330-336, for example.

In the example installation 300, each vA 320, 322, 324 includes amanagement endpoint 340, 342, 344. Each component server 330, 332, 334,336 includes a management agent 350, 352, 354, 356. The managementagents 350-356 can communicate with their respective endpoint 340 tofacilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc., for example.

In certain examples, the management agents 350-356 synchronize componentservers 330-336 with the vA 320-234 and facilitate host access andassociated services (e.g., hostd, ntpd, sfcbd, slpd, wsman, vobd, etc.).The management agents 350-356 can communicate with their respectiveendpoint 340 to facilitate transfer of data, execution of tasks, etc.,for example. The relationship between management endpoint 340, 342, 344and associated management agents 350, 352, 354, 356 can be used todeploy and install software on multiple component machines 330, 332,334, 336.

In certain examples, a graphical user interface associated with a frontend of the load balancer 310 guides a customer through one or morequestions to determine system requirements for the installation 300.Once the customer has completed the questionnaire and provided firewallaccess to install the agents 350-356, the agents 350-356 communicatewith the endpoint 340 without customer involvement. Thus, for example,if a new employee needs a Microsoft Windows® machine, a manager selectsan option (e.g., clicks a button, etc.) via the graphical user interfaceto install a VM 114 and/or container 114 a that is managed through theinstallation 300. To the user, he or she is working on a single machine,but behind the scenes, the virtual appliance (vA) 320 is accessingdifferent servers 330-336 depending upon what functionality is to beexecuted.

In certain examples, agents 350-356 are deployed in a same data centeras the endpoint 340 to which the agents 350-356 are associated. Thedeployment can include a plurality of agent servers 330-336 distributedworldwide, and the deployment can be scalable to accommodate additionalserver(s) with agent(s) to increase throughput and concurrency, forexample.

FIG. 4A illustrates an example implementation of the vA 320. In theexample of FIG. 4A, the vA 320 includes a service provisioner 410, anorchestrator 420, an event broker 430, an authentication provider 440,an internal reverse proxy 450, and a database 460. The components 410,420, 430, 440, 450, 460 of the vA 320 may be implemented by one or moreof the VMs 114. The example service provisioner 410 provides services toprovision interfaces (e.g., Web interface, application interface, etc.)for the vA 320. The example orchestrator (e.g., vCO) 420 is an embeddedor internal orchestrator that can leverage a provisioning manager, suchas the application director 106 and/or cloud manager 138, to provisionVM services but is embedded in the vA 320. For example, the vCO 420 canbe used to invoke a blueprint to provision a manager for services.

Example services can include catalog services, identity services,component registry services, event broker services, IaaS, XaaS, etc.Catalog services provide a user interface via which a user can requestprovisioning of different preset environments (e.g., a VM including anoperating system and software and some customization, etc.), forexample. Identity services facilitate authentication and authorizationof users and assigned roles, for example. The component registrymaintains information corresponding to installed and deployed services(e.g., uniform resource locators for services installed in a VM/vA,etc.), for example. The event broker provides a messaging broker forevent-based communication, for example. The IaaS provisions one or moreVMs and/or containers for a customer via the vA 320. The XaaS can extendthe provisioning to also request, approve, provision, operate, anddecommission any type of catalog items (e.g., storage, applications,accounts, and anything else that the catalog provides as a service).

In certain examples, the vCO 420 includes a prerequisite identifier 425to identify role(s) for the component server(s) 330-336 and determineprerequisite(s) associated with the role(s). In other examples, theprerequisite identifier 425 is implemented via a backend of aninstallation wizard interface rather than or in addition to the vCO 420.The prerequisite identifier 425 can then trigger the vA 320 to instructthe component server(s) 330-336 to check the prerequisite(s) for eachrole assigned to the corresponding server 330-336.

The example event broker 430 provides a mechanism to handle tasks whichare transferred between services with the orchestrator 420. The exampleauthentication provider 440 (e.g., VMware Horizon™ services, etc.)authenticates access to services and data, for example.

The components of the vA 320 access each other through REST API callsbehind the internal reverse proxy 450 (e.g., a high availability (HA)proxy HAProxy) which provides a high availability load balancer andproxy for Transmission Control Protocol (TCP)- and Hypertext TransferProtocol (HTTP)-based application requests. In this example, the proxy450 forwards communication traffic from within the vA 320 and/or betweenvAs 320, 322, 324 of FIG. 3 to the appropriate component(s) of the vA320. In certain examples, services access the local host/proxy 450 on aparticular port, and the call is masked by the proxy 450 and forwardedto the particular component of the vA 320. Since the call is masked bythe proxy 450, components can be adjusted within the vA 320 withoutimpacting outside users.

Example Infrastructure Installation

In certain examples, a cloud computing (e.g., vCAC™, vRA™, etc.)deployment includes one or more vAs 320-324 and one or more componentservers 330-336 (e.g., Microsoft Windows™ machines, etc.) on which areinstalled components (e.g., software such as Web services, applicationservices, database services, etc.) that form the IaaS portion of theproduct. In a distributed and/or high availability deployment, aplurality of component servers 330-336 form the installed product, andhaving to install the IaaS components manually on all of the componentservers 330-336 is a time-consuming process, involving, among otherthings, multiple context switches and many opportunities for usermisconfiguration of the deployed system. For example, manualinstallation involves installing components on an appliance, downloadingan installer, and then visit each server to install the componentsmanually using the installer. However, if a component is deployed out oforder, the installation may not function. Additionally, data entry isrequired for each manual installation, and mis-typing of the manual dataentry can invalidate the entire installation. Further, such a mistakemay not be realized until the erroneous installation is deployed,resulting in lost time, money, errors, and inoperable systems.Simplification and automation of this process reduces the time neededand errors involved in setting up a new instance of the cloud computingsystem.

In certain examples, rather than requiring customers to manually installan IaaS component on each server 330-336, installation can be executedon each node from a centralized location via the management agent350-356 installed on each component server 330-336. The agent 350-356 isinstalled and registered with the vA 320. After registration,communication with the vA 320 is authenticated using a self-signedcertificate. The vA's 320 root credentials are not persisted on theserver 330-336. Each instance of the management agent 350-356 has a nodeidentifier (ID), which uniquely identifies the agent 330-336 in acluster of machines 330-336 forming the cloud deployment. Afterregistration, the agent 330-336 starts polling the vA 320 in aconfigurable time interval to obtain commands to be executed. Thecommands are executed by the corresponding server 330-336, and a resultis reported back to the vA 320 by the agent 350-356 and can be used forfurther processing, for example.

In certain examples, installation of a hybrid system including aplurality of appliances 320-324 and component servers 330-336 having aplurality of roles can be orchestrated via the management agents350-356. Using the management agents 350-356 in communication with themanagement endpoints 340-344 at their respective vAs 320-324, theexample installation 300 can be coordinated without manual user actionthroughout phases of the installation.

FIG. 4B illustrates a block diagram of an example implementation of themanagement agent 350 (and/or 352, 354, 356). As shown in the example ofFIG. 4B, the management agent 350 includes a communication interface 470through which the agent 350 can communicate with the endpoint 340(and/or 342, 344) of the vA 320 (and/or 322, 324). The communicationinterface 470 is a hardware and/or software interface allowing the agent350 to exchange data, commands, etc., with the endpoint 340 and/or othercommunication node, for example.

The example agent 350 also includes an agent control processor 480. Theagent control processor 480 executes instructions to control the agent350 for command and/or other application execution, communication,storage, etc. The instructions can be transmitted to the agent controlprocessor 480 via the communication interface 470 and/or via a datastorage 490, for example.

The example data storage 490 includes a configuration file 492 and amachine identifier 494. The example configuration file 492 can includeinformation such as credentials to authenticate and/or validate theagent 350 to the vA 320, etc. Credentials can include a certificate(e.g., with a public key and private key for authentication, etc.), aunique identifier, etc. The example agent control processor 480 canprocess instructions, generate communications, etc. The example datastorage 490 can also include instructions (e.g., computer program code,etc.) to be executed by the agent control processor 480.

In certain examples, the agent control processor 480 includes aprerequisite checker 482 and a prerequisite fixer 484. The prerequisitechecker 482 receives prerequisite information associated with one ormore roles assigned to the server 330 from the vA 320 via thecommunication interface 470. The prerequisite checker 482 evaluates theserver 330 to determine whether each rule and/or other requirementassociated with each prerequisite is satisfied by the server 330. Theprerequisite checker 482 logs each prerequisite that is not satisfied bythe server 330. The prerequisite fixer 484 processes each loggederror/failure and can correct (e.g., by executing one or more PowerShellscripts and/or other task automation/configuration management script orexecutable code executable to fix a prerequisite, etc.) theerror/failure so that the server 330 then satisfies the prerequisite,for example.

As shown in the example of FIG. 5, the management endpoint 340 and themanagement agent 350 communicate with a trigger 510. The trigger 510 canbe a user, an automated script and/or other program, other externalinput, etc. The trigger 510 can initiate installation, deployment,and/or other action with respect to the vA 320 and/or the componentserver 330 via the endpoint 340 and agent 350. Similarly, the trigger510 can initiate action with respect to other vA 322-324, componentserver 332-336, etc., via the endpoint 342-344, agent 352-356, etc.

In certain examples, a plurality of virtual appliances 320-324 aredeployed with a plurality of component servers 330-336 serving differentpurposes. For example, each server 330-336 can be configured to providea service such as a Web service (e.g., control web access, etc.), amanager service (e.g., control provisioning cycle and life cycle of eachvirtual machine, etc.), a database service, a distributed executionmanager (DEM), an agent (e.g., a proxy agent connected to a hypervisorand/or hardware infrastructure to instantiate virtual machine(s), etc.),etc. The vA 320-324 are in the provider's (e.g., VMware, etc.) control,enabling the provider to have knowledge of the configuration,installation, etc., for each vA 320-324. With respect to the componentservers 330-336, however, the customer often controls the servers sothat the provider has little knowledge of each server 330-336. Forexample, the provider may be unaware of what software is installed onthe server 330-336, version, etc. Rather, the provider knows somesoftware is to be installed and security enabled on the server 330-336,for example.

In certain examples, the customer can specify which service(s) are to beinstalled on which server(s) 330-336. Before installation begins, the vA320-324 help ensure that the server(s) will function for thecomponent(s) to be installed. The vA 320-324 work to ensure thatcomponent(s) to be installed will function properly on the targetserver(s) 330-336 by executing loopback checks, confirm rulesatisfaction, and/or other prerequisites.

If a server 330-336 is not compliant for the target software, then theserver 330-336 can be made compliant. A problem that causes the server330-336 to fail its prerequisites check can be identified and fixed. Thefix can be automatic by the vA 320-324 and/or involve further effort tocorrect, for example. For example, if a loopback check is enabled, theproblem can be fixed by stopping or disabling the check, etc.

Since the main appliance 320 may not be able to see the componentserver(s) 330-336, the vA 320 can communicate with the servers 330-336through installation of the management agent 350-356, which cancommunicate with the management endpoint 340 of the vA 320. Rather thanmanually inspecting each server 330-336 and manually identifying andfixing any errors, the management agent 350-356 registers with the vA320 during installation so that the vA 320 is aware of the agent 350-356and can schedule work for the agent 350-356 and its server 330-336.

In certain examples, each agent 350-356 includes one or more programs(e.g., PowerShell scripts, etc.). In certain examples, a prerequisitecheck is linked with one or more PowerShell scripts (e.g., C#, etc.).Prerequisite checks can be validated using the script(s). for example, aWindows™ workflow activity can be associated with each service component(e.g., workflow Web, workflow manager service, etc.) that checks rulesto validate. The workflow describes which checks apply to which rolecomponents. The vA 320 determines which roles are to be enabled on eachnode (each server 330-336), so each server 330-336 has a list ofassociated role(s). The management agent 350-356 receives a taskinstruction from the appliance 320 and starts to execute the task byrunning the workflow for the role (e.g., Web, manager, DEM, agent,etc.). Success or failure of task executed can be logged to generate acollection of outputs. Thus, the management agent 350-356 executesworkflow(s) associated with component(s) to be installed on theserver(s) 330-336, and a collection of output results.

In certain examples, the management agent 350-356 attempts to fix errorsand/or other failures identified in a prerequisite check. For example,using PowerShell scripts and/or other script/executable code, each ruleis associated with a first program code that checks the failure and asecond program code that fixes the failure. For example, PowerShellscripts are embedded in a single command for each function, whichprovides a checker command and a fix command for each function. Themanagement agent 350-356 reviews the results collection after aprerequisite check has been executed and, for each failed rule,identifies a PowerShell script that corresponds to the rule. The agent350-356 then executes the code to fix the configuration to satisfy therule. After error(s)/failure(s) have been remedied, the agent 350-356generates a first command to the vA 320, and the vA 320 returns a secondcommand to the management agent 350-356 to reboot the server 330-336,for example. In other examples, instructions to remedy a failure do notinvolve a reboot of the server 330-336.

Thus, in certain examples, the management agent 350-356 monitorsexecution of a command, detects an end of the command, and reports backto the vA 320. If the server 330-356 is rebooting, the management agent350-356 exists in a persistent folder and looks for an instruction toreboot. While the server 330-336 is rebooting, no management agent350-356 is active. However, once the server 330-336 has restarted, themanagement agent 350-356 detects that the server 330-336 has rebooted(e.g., checks last command executed and status, etc.) and reports backto the vA 320.

FIGS. 6A-6B illustrate example data flow diagrams showing an exchange ofinformation 600 between the vA 320 and the component server 330 toinstall system 300 components including the vA 320 and component server330 including management agent 350. While the example is described withrespect to the vA 320, component server 330, and management agent 350,the exchange 600 can also occur with respect to vA 322, 324, componentservers 332-336, management agents 352-356, etc.

As shown in the example of FIG. 6A, at 602, the trigger 510 (e.g., auser via a vA management webpage, an automated script, etc.) initiatesdeployment (e.g., via a wizard, automated script, etc.) of the vA 320.At 604, the trigger 510 initiates deployment (e.g., via a wizard,automated script, etc.) of the management agent 350 for the associatedserver 330. At 606, the management agent 350 registers with the vA 320.For example, registration includes an authentication of management agent350 credentials by the vA 320, for example. Authentication and/orauthorization can include an exchange and verification of a certificate,identifier, etc., associated with the management agent 350 and/or itsassociated server 330 by the vA 320, for example. In certain examples,registration includes authentication of the certificate (e.g., aself-signed certificate, third party certificate, etc.) as well asauthorization of an identifier (e.g., a unique identifier such as auniversally unique identifier (UUID) or globally unique identifier(GUID), other machine identifier, etc.) associated with the agent350/server 300.

At 608, the vA 320 acknowledges the registration of the management agent350. After a successful registration, the agent's certificate can beused to communicate with the vA 320 (e.g., the management endpoint 340of the vA 320, etc.), and root credentials of the vA 320 do not persiston the server 330. For example, a cloud-based installation may includeone or more vAs 320-324 and one or more servers 330-336 (e.g., “Windows™machines”, etc.) on which a plurality of components (e.g., five, six,seven, ten, etc.) are installed (e.g., applications, database,management, etc.) to form an IaaS in a distributed, high availabilityenvironment. The management agents 350-356 communicate with themanagement endpoint(s) 340-344 to receive commands, execute commands,install software, upgrade an installation at the server 330-336, etc.

Each management agent 350-356 has a node identifier (ID) that uniquelyidentifies the agent 350-356 in a cluster of machines 330-336 formingthe system 300. When installing the agent 350-356, an address and rootcredentials of the primary vA 320 are entered so that the agent 350-356can register itself in the vA 320. After the registration, communicationwith the vA 320 is authenticated using a self-signed certificate. Incertain examples, since the self-signed certificate is used forcommunication between the agent 350-356 and the endpoint 340, the rootcredentials of the vA 320 are not persisted on the machines 330-336after deployment is complete 610.

At 612, an installation wizard is triggered 510 for the vA 320 todetermine role(s) for the server 330. For example, the server 330 isassigned a role as a database server. Alternatively, the server 330 isassigned a role as a Web server. The server 330 may be assigned a roleas an application server, for example. The server 330 may be assigned arole as a Windows™ server, for example.

Each role is associated with one or more rules that guide and/orestablish criteria for the associated role. Each rule can be associatedwith one or more prerequisites for the server 330 to execute the ruleand perform the role. In a high availability (HA) environment, rules mayspecify that there are at least two servers 330-336 for each role toprovide redundancy and increased availability if one server 330 of agiven role is busy or otherwise unavailable, for example.

At 614, available role(s) are provided to the trigger 510 from the vA320. For example, the vA 320 determines role(s) based on installationconfiguration information, requirements, requests, server capability,and/or other constraint. At 616, the trigger 510 selects role(s) fromthe set of available role(s) provided by the vA 320. At 618, the vA 320builds a list of role(s) to be assigned to the server 330 (and/or theservers 332-336) based on the selected role(s) and associatedprerequisite information (e.g., rule(s), requirement(s), preference(s),etc.). For example, the prerequisite identifier 425 determinesprerequisite(s) for the list of role(s).

At 620, the vA 320 triggers an evaluation or checking of prerequisite(s)for the selected role(s) to be assigned to the server 330 (and/or332-336) to help ensure the associated server 330 can perform the role.For example, prerequisites can include a determination of whether theload balancer 310, vA 320-324, and/or component server 330-336, etc.,is/are reachable (e.g., through a firewall, etc.). Another prerequisitecan include registration of the server 330-336 and/or other IaaS nodewith the vA 320-324, for example. Another prerequisite can includedatabase (e.g., object-relational database such as Postgres, etc.)access, for example.

At 622, the server 330 loops through the selected role(s). For eachrole, at 624, the prerequisite checker 482 of the server 330 loopsthrough associated rule(s) (e.g., prerequisite(s)). The server 330checks to determine whether each rule (e.g., each prerequisite) issatisfied by the server 330. For example, the server 330 checks todetermine whether the server 330 can communicate through a firewall withthe vA 320. The server 330 can check to determine whether the server 330has processing, storage, and/or communication capabilities to functionin a selected role, for example. The server 330 can check to determinewhether it has proper permission/access to transmit, receive, and/ormodify data according to a desired role, for example. A collection ofresults 626 is generated as rules are looped 624 for each role 622. At628, results of the prerequisite analysis are sent by the server 330 tothe vA 320. At 630, the results are output (e.g., displayed to a user,stored at the vA 320, transmitted to another device, etc.). At 632, afix or correction of errors and/or other failed results is triggered510. At 634, an instruction to check prerequisites is re-sent from thevA 320 to the server 330. However, this instruction includes a flag,parameter, or command to fix error(s) (e.g., fix=TRUE, etc.).

As shown in the example of FIG. 6B, after the instruction to fix 634 hasbeen sent by the vA 320 to the server 330, at 636, the server 330 loopsroles and rules to determine whether all rule(s) are satisfied for allrole(s) at the server 330. Output (e.g., success, failure, error code,etc.) is captured by the server 330 in results collection 638. At 640,the server 330 (via the prerequisite fixer 484 and the management agent350) executes one or more fix scripts (e.g., C# PowerShell scripts,etc.) to correct for failed rule(s) and/or other error identified in theresults collection 638. For example, one or more automated scripts canbe executed by the prerequisite fixer 484 to provide answer(s),setting(s), address(es), username(s), password(s), credential(s),communication port(s), etc., to satisfy missing prerequisite informationfor the server 330 at the vA 320.

At 642, once script execution is complete, the server 330 notifies thevA 320 of fix completion. At 644, the vA 320 instructs the server 330(and its management agent 350) to restart. Rebooting or restarting 646the server 330 and its management agent 350 causes the agent 350 andserver 330 to restart their initialization sequence using the fixedand/or otherwise updated configuration (e.g., from execution of the oneor more fix scripts, etc.). At 648, the server 330 notifies the vA 320that the command execution has been completed.

In certain examples, each command has state machine including states forprocessing, complete, and failed. The management agent 350 controls thestate of the command, and a timeout message can be generated to set astate of the command to failed. For example, if the command is sent andnothing happens for 30 minutes, the management agent 350 and/ormanagement endpoint 340 can assume the command has failed and can resendthe command.

In certain examples, the vA 320 validates the server 330. For example,the vA 320 sends one or more commands to the server 330 based on therole of the server 330 (e.g., install web service (validate=true),install manager service, etc.) to validate the installation and/or otherconfiguration of the server 330. The server 330 returns an indication ofwhether or not the validation is okay (e.g., has been completedsuccessfully, etc.). If the validation failed, fixing of prerequisites634 can be repeated, for example. If validation is successful, then theinstallation, configuration, and validation process is complete. Incertain examples, once prerequisite verification has completed, aninstall wizard can continue with other tasks.

Thus, a sequence of commands is built and targeted for particularserver(s) 330. The commands are triggered for orchestration of servicesvia the management agent(s) 350. The central or primary vA 320 does nothave access to individual nodes but instead accesses the managementagent(s) 350-356 of the respective server(s) 330-336, which acts toexecute installation instructions from the vA 320. The vA 320 awaitsacknowledgement from the agent(s) 350-356. The server(s) 330-336 andassociated agent(s) 350-356 can then be configured with services asillustrated in the example of FIG. 7. As shown in the example of FIG. 7,the vA 320 can configure Web, manager, DEM, and proxy agent servicesacross a firewall 702 with respect to servers 330-336 and agents350-356.

While example implementations of the example cloud computing system 100and virtual machine installation 300 are illustrated in FIGS. 1-7, oneor more of the elements, processes and/or devices illustrated in FIGS.1-7 may be combined, divided, re-arranged, omitted, eliminated and/orimplemented in any other way. Further, the example application director106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138, exampledistributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machine service210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances 320-324,example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints 340-344,example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, the examplesystems 100 and/or 300 of FIGS. 1-7 can be implemented by hardware,software, firmware and/or any combination of hardware, software and/orfirmware. Thus, for example, any of the example application director106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138, exampledistributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machine service210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances 320-324,example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints 340-344,example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, the examplesystems 100 and/or 300 of FIGS. 1-7 can be implemented by one or moreanalog or digital circuit(s), logic circuits, programmable processor(s),application specific integrated circuit(s) (ASIC(s)), programmable logicdevice(s) (PLD(s)) and/or field programmable logic device(s) (FPLD(s)).When reading any of the apparatus or system claims of this patent tocover a purely software and/or firmware implementation, at least one ofthe example application director 106, example cloud provider 110,example cloud manager 138, example distributed execution managers 146A,146B, example multi-machine service 210, example load balancer 310,example virtual appliances 320-324, example component servers 330-336,example management endpoints 340-344, example management agents 350-356,and/or, more generally, the example systems 100 and/or 300 of FIGS. 1-7is/are hereby expressly defined to include a tangible computer readablestorage device or storage disk such as a memory, a digital versatiledisk (DVD), a compact disk (CD), a Blu-ray disk, etc. storing thesoftware and/or firmware. Further still, the example applicationdirector 106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138,example distributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machineservice 210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances320-324, example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints340-344, example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, theexample systems 100 and/or 300 of FIGS. 1-7 may include one or moreelements, processes and/or devices in addition to, or instead of, thoseillustrated in FIGS. 1-7, and/or may include more than one of any or allof the illustrated elements, processes and devices.

Flowcharts representative of example machine readable instructions thatmay be executed to deploy and manage the example application director106, example cloud provider 110, example cloud manager 138, exampledistributed execution managers 146A, 146B, example multi-machine service210, example load balancer 310, example virtual appliances 320-324,example component servers 330-336, example management endpoints 340-344,example management agents 350-356, and/or, more generally, the examplesystems 100 and/or 300 of FIGS. 1-7 are shown in FIGS. 8-9. In theseexamples, the machine readable instructions implement programs forexecution by a processor such as the processor 1012 shown in the exampleprocessor platform 1000 discussed below in connection with FIG. 10. Theprograms may be embodied in software stored on a tangible computerreadable storage medium such as a CD-ROM, a floppy disk, a hard drive, adigital versatile disk (DVD), a Blu-ray disk, or a memory associatedwith the processor 1012, but the entire program and/or parts thereofcould alternatively be executed by a device other than the processor1012 and/or embodied in firmware or dedicated hardware. Further,although the example programs are described with reference to theflowcharts illustrated in FIGS. 8-9, many other methods of deploying,evaluating, and installing services on component servers in accordancewith the teachings of this disclosure may alternatively be used. Forexample, the order of execution of the blocks may be changed, and/orsome of the blocks described may be changed, eliminated, or combined.

As mentioned above, the example processes of FIGS. 8-9 may beimplemented using coded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machinereadable instructions) stored on a tangible computer readable storagemedium such as a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory(ROM), a compact disk (CD), a digital versatile disk (DVD), a cache, arandom-access memory (RAM) and/or any other storage device or storagedisk in which information is stored for any duration (e.g., for extendedtime periods, permanently, for brief instances, for temporarilybuffering, and/or for caching of the information). As used herein, theterm tangible computer readable storage medium is expressly defined toinclude any type of computer readable storage device and/or storage diskand to exclude propagating signals and to exclude transmission media. Asused herein, “tangible computer readable storage medium” and “tangiblemachine readable storage medium” are used interchangeably. In someexamples, the example processes of FIGS. 8-9 may be implemented usingcoded instructions (e.g., computer and/or machine readable instructions)stored on a non-transitory computer and/or machine readable medium suchas a hard disk drive, a flash memory, a read-only memory, a compactdisk, a digital versatile disk, a cache, a random-access memory and/orany other storage device or storage disk in which information is storedfor any duration (e.g., for extended time periods, permanently, forbrief instances, for temporarily buffering, and/or for caching of theinformation). As used herein, the term non-transitory computer readablemedium is expressly defined to include any type of computer readablestorage device and/or storage disk and to exclude propagating signalsand to exclude transmission media. As used herein, when the phrase “atleast” is used as the transition term in a preamble of a claim, it isopen-ended in the same manner as the term “comprising” is open ended.Comprising and all other variants of “comprise” are expressly defined tobe open-ended terms. Including and all other variants of “include” arealso defined to be open-ended terms. In contrast, the term consistingand/or other forms of consist are defined to be close-ended terms.

FIG. 8 depicts a flowchart representative of computer readableinstructions that may be executed to implement the exampleinfrastructure installation 300. An example program 800 is illustratedin FIG. 8. Initially, at block 802, the first, primary, or main vA 320is deployed (e.g., triggered by a user, an automated script, an event,etc.). The installation wizard is also triggered to be run by the vA320, for example.

At block 804, components in the system 300 are identified. For example,a cloud-based installation may include one or more vAs 320-324 and oneor more servers 330-336 (e.g., “Windows™ machines”, etc.) on which aplurality of components (e.g., five, six, seven, ten, etc.) areinstalled (e.g., applications, database, management, etc.) to form anIaaS in a distributed, high availability environment. The managementagents 350-356 communicate with the management endpoint(s) 340-344 toreceive commands, execute commands, install software, upgrade aninstallation at the server 330-336, etc. The system 300 can also includeone or more devices such as a load balancer 310, etc.

At block 806, the management agent 350-356 is installed on eachcomponent server 330-336. Each server 330-336 acknowledges theinstallation of the management agent 350-356. The acknowledgement caninclude an authentication of management agent 350 credentials by the vA320, for example. Authentication and/or authorization can include anexchange and verification of a certificate, identifier, etc., associatedwith the management agent 350 and/or its associated server 330 by the vA320, for example.

In certain examples, each management agent 350-356 has a node identifier(ID) that uniquely identifies the agent 350-356 in a cluster of machines330-336 forming the system 300. When installing the agent 350-356, anaddress and root credentials of the primary vA 320 are entered so thatthe agent 350-356 can register itself in the vA 320. After theregistration, communication with the vA 320 is authenticated using aself-signed certificate. In certain examples, since the self-signedcertificate is used for communication between the agent 350-356 and theendpoint 340, the root credentials of the vA 320 are not persisted onthe machines 330-336.

At block 808, one or more roles are determined for each server 330(and/or 332-336). For example, the server 330 is assigned a role as adatabase server. Alternatively, the server 330 is assigned a role as aWeb server. The server 330 may be assigned a role as an applicationserver, for example. The server 330 may be assigned a role as a Windows™server, for example.

For example, the vA 320 determines role(s) based on installationconfiguration information, requirements, requests, preference, servercapability, and/or other constraint. Role(s) can be selected from theset of available role(s) provided by the vA 320, for example. In certainexamples, the vA 320 builds a list of role(s) to be assigned to theserver 330 (and/or the servers 332-336) based on the selected role(s)and associated prerequisite information (e.g., rule(s), requirement(s),preference(s), etc.).

Each role is associated with one or more rules that guide and/orestablish criteria for the associated role. Each rule can be associatedwith one or more prerequisites for a server 330-336 to execute the ruleand perform the role. In a high availability (HA) environment, rules mayspecify that there are at least two servers 330-336 for each role toprovide redundancy and increased availability if one server 330 of agiven role is busy or otherwise unavailable, for example.

At block 810, the vA 320 (e.g., via the prerequisite identifier 425)determines applicable prerequisite(s) for a given role. Theprerequisite(s) applicable to a particular server 330-336 for itsassigned role(s) can be a subset of the total number of prerequisitesavailable to be checked, for example. For example, for each roleassigned to a server 330-336, the prerequisite identifier 425 of the vA320 evaluates prerequisite(s) for that role and selects only theprerequisite(s) applicable to that role, rather than all prerequisitesfor all roles. Thus, rather than having each server 330-336 conductprerequisite checks for all roles, each server 330-336 conductsprerequisite check(s) for rule(s) applying to the role(s) assigned tothat particular server 330-336. By selectively narrowing theprerequisite check(s), the evaluation and correction process can bequicker and use fewer processing resources when compared to evaluatingall rules for all roles via each server 330-336. The subset ofprerequisites can be identified by identifying the IaaS componentassociated with an assigned role (e.g., database, website, managerservice, etc.). After the component role has been identified,requirements for such a role are identified (e.g., an InternetInformation Service (IIS) is to be installed before a Website componentscan be installed on the server 330, etc.) by the prerequisite checker482. Then, a prerequisite fix script to be executed to reconfigure theserver 330-336 to fulfill the prerequisite check is obtained. Forexample, based on the role and associated check(s), the fix script isdownloaded to the server 330-336 for execution by the prerequisite fixer484.

At block 812, each server 330-336 evaluates or checks applicable subsetof prerequisite(s) for the given role(s) to ensure the associated server330-336 can perform the assigned role(s). For example, prerequisites caninclude a) a determination of whether the load balancer 310, vA 320-324,and/or component server 330-336, etc., is/are reachable; b) registrationof the server 330-336 and/or other IaaS node with the vA 320-324; c)presence of a minimum software and/or firmware version; d) database(e.g., object-relational database such as Postgres, etc.) access; e)firewall access, etc. The prerequisite checker 482 evaluates eachprerequisite with respect to the server 330-336 to determine whether thecapability, configuration, etc., of the server 330-336 allow the server330-336 to satisfy the prerequisite, for example.

At block 814, errors resulting from the prerequisite check(s) areidentified at the server 330-336. For example, a prerequisite may not besatisfied and may need to be addressed before installation can continue.If no error is identified, then control advances to block 816 tovalidate the server 330-336 configuration, for example. For example, thevA 320 sends one or more commands to the server 330 based on the role ofthe server 330 (e.g., install web service (validate=true), installmanager service, etc.) to validate the installation and/or otherconfiguration of the server 330. The server 330 returns an indication ofwhether or not the validation is okay (e.g., has been completedsuccessfully, etc.). If validation is successful, then, at block 818,installation is completed. Otherwise, evaluation returns to block 812.

When an error is identified, then, at block 820, the error is evaluatedand one or more scripts associated with the failing prerequisite scriptare executed by the prerequisite fixer 484 to correct the error. Forexample, one or more automated scripts (e.g., PowerShell scripts, otherscript, other executable code, etc.) can be executed by the managementagent 350-356 of the server 330-336 to provide answer(s), setting(s),address(es), password(s), credential(s), port identifier(s), etc., tosatisfy missing prerequisite information for the server 330-336. Atblock 822, the server 330-336 is restarted after error correctionscript(s) have been executed. Control returns to block 812 tore-evaluate the server 330-336 with respect to the subset of applicableprerequisite(s).

FIG. 9 illustrates an example implementation of executing theinstallation at block 810 of the example flow diagram of FIG. 8 todetermine an applicable subset of prerequisite(s) to match the role(s)of the server 330-336. At block 902, the role(s) assigned to the server330-336 are identified. For example, the role(s) determined by the vA320 for the server 330-336 are identified based on information from thevA 320.

At block 904, the subset of available prerequisites applicable to theparticular role(s) for the server 330-336 are determined based on theassigned role(s). For example, for each role assigned to a server330-336, the prerequisite identifier 425 of the vA 320 evaluatesprerequisite(s) for that role and selects only the prerequisite(s)applicable to that role, rather than all prerequisites for all roles.Thus, rather than having each server 330-336 conduct prerequisite checksfor all roles, each server 330-336 conducts prerequisite check(s) forrule(s) applying to the role(s) assigned to that particular server330-336. By selectively narrowing the prerequisite check(s), theevaluation and correction process can be quicker and use fewerprocessing resources when compared to evaluating all rules for all rolesvia each server 330-336. The subset of prerequisites can be identifiedby identifying the IaaS component associated with an assigned role(e.g., database, website, manager service, etc.). After the componentrole has been identified, requirements (e.g., prerequisite(s), etc.) forsuch a role are identified (e.g., an Internet Information Service (IIS)is to be installed before a Web site components can be installed on theserver 330, etc.).

At block 906, one or more prerequisite fix script(s) associated witheach of the subset of prerequisites are identified and obtained. The fixscript(s) are to be executed to reconfigure the server 330-336 tofulfill the prerequisite check is obtained. For example, based on therole and associated check(s), the fix script is downloaded. At block908, the role(s), subset of prerequisites, and associated fix script(s)are sent to the server 330-336. At block 910, the server 330-336 istriggered to evaluate and fix the prerequisite(s) for the role(s). Thus,the server 330-336 can focus on a subset of role(s), prerequisite(s),and fix(es) rather than evaluating all possible options.

FIG. 10 is a block diagram of an example processor platform 1000 capableof executing the instructions of FIGS. 8-9 to implement the examplesystems, operation, and management of FIGS. 1-7. The processor platform1000 of the illustrated example includes a processor 1012. The processor1012 of the illustrated example is hardware. For example, the processor1012 can be implemented by one or more integrated circuits, logiccircuits, microprocessors or controllers from any desired family ormanufacturer.

The processor 1012 of the illustrated example includes a local memory1013 (e.g., a cache), and executes instructions to implement the examplesystems 100, 300 or portions thereof, such as the vA 320-324, componentserver 330-336, management endpoint 340-344, and management agent350-356. The processor 1012 of the illustrated example is incommunication with a main memory including a volatile memory 1014 and anon-volatile memory 1016 via a bus 1018. The volatile memory 1014 may beimplemented by Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), DynamicRandom Access Memory (DRAM), RAMBUS Dynamic Random Access Memory (RDRAM)and/or any other type of random access memory device. The non-volatilememory 1016 may be implemented by flash memory and/or any other desiredtype of memory device. Access to the main memory 1014, 1016 iscontrolled by a memory controller.

The processor platform 1000 of the illustrated example also includes aninterface circuit 1020. The interface circuit 1020 may be implemented byany type of interface standard, such as an Ethernet interface, auniversal serial bus (USB), and/or a PCI express interface.

In the illustrated example, one or more input devices 1022 are connectedto the interface circuit 1020. The input device(s) 1022 permit(s) a userto enter data and commands into the processor 1012. The input device(s)can be implemented by, for example, an audio sensor, a microphone, akeyboard, a button, a mouse, a touchscreen, a track-pad, a trackball,isopoint and/or a voice recognition system.

One or more output devices 1024 are also connected to the interfacecircuit 1020 of the illustrated example. The output devices 1024 can beimplemented, for example, by display devices (e.g., a light emittingdiode (LED), an organic light emitting diode (OLED), a liquid crystaldisplay, a cathode ray tube display (CRT), a touchscreen, a tactileoutput device, a printer and/or speakers). The interface circuit 1020 ofthe illustrated example, thus, typically includes a graphics drivercard, a graphics driver chip or a graphics driver processor.

The interface circuit 1020 of the illustrated example also includes acommunication device such as a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver, amodem and/or network interface card to facilitate exchange of data withexternal machines (e.g., computing devices of any kind) via a network1026 (e.g., an Ethernet connection, a digital subscriber line (DSL), atelephone line, coaxial cable, a cellular telephone system, etc.).

The processor platform 1000 of the illustrated example also includes oneor more mass storage devices 1028 for storing software and/or data.Examples of such mass storage devices 1028 include flash devices, floppydisk drives, hard drive disks, optical compact disk (CD) drives, opticalBlu-ray disk drives, RAID systems, and optical digital versatile disk(DVD) drives.

Coded instructions 1032 representative of the example machine readableinstructions of FIGS. 8-9 may be stored in the mass storage device 1028,in the volatile memory 1014, in the non-volatile memory 1016, and/or ona removable tangible computer readable storage medium such as a CD orDVD.

In certain examples, the processor 1012 can be used to implement thevirtual appliance 320 (and vAs 322-324) and the component server 330(and servers 332-336) and their components including the serviceprovisioner 410, orchestrator 420, prerequisite identifier 425, eventbroker 430, authentication provider 440, proxy 450, management endpoint340, management agent 450, communication interface 470, agent controlprocessor 480, prerequisite checker 482, prerequisite fixer 484, datastorage 480, etc.

From the foregoing, it will be appreciated that the above disclosedmethods, apparatus and articles of manufacture facilitate installationof a virtual appliance and associated component servers as an IaaS in adistributed environment such as a cloud computing environment andmanagement of agents in the distributed environment. Examples disclosedherein facilitate self-evaluation and installation of servers and agentswithout further user intervention or cloud oversight.

As described above, rather than requiring customers to manually installthe IaaS on each component server, the installation of each node can befacilitated from a centralized location via a management endpoint andmanagement agents running on each component server. The managementagents are registered with the virtual appliance, and furthercommunication between the agent and the appliance is authenticated usinga self-signed certificate. The appliance's root credentials are notpersisted on the individual component servers. Each instance of themanagement agent has a node identifier, which uniquely identifies thenode in the cluster of machines forming the infrastructure deployment.Prerequisite(s) can be more intelligently and automatically identifiedbased on role(s) assigned to each server and associated managementagent, and the server/agent can evaluate and fix only the subset ofprerequisite(s) for applicable role(s) rather than all possibleprerequisites. Automatically identifying and fixing prerequisite(s) notinitially met by the server results in significantly improved accuracyand significantly reduced time, rather than requiring users to manuallylog onto each machine and fix each prerequisite that is not met. Afterregistration and validation, the management agent starts polling thevirtual appliance in configurable time for commands to be executed. Thecommands are executed by the server(s), and the result(s) is/arereported back to the virtual appliance and can be used for furtherprocessing.

Certain examples provide an apparatus including a first virtualappliance including a first management endpoint, the first virtualappliance to organize tasks to be executed to install a computinginfrastructure. The example apparatus includes a first component serverincluding a first management agent to communicate with the firstmanagement endpoint, the first virtual appliance to assign a first roleto the first component server and to determine a subset of prerequisitesassociated with the first role, the subset of prerequisites selectedfrom a plurality of prerequisites based on an applicability of thesubset of prerequisites to the first role, each of the subset ofprerequisites associated with an error correction script, the firstcomponent server to determine whether the first component serversatisfies the subset of prerequisites associated with the first role,the first component server to address an error when the first componentserver is determined not to satisfy at least one of the subset ofprerequisites by executing the error correction script associated withthe at least one of the subset of prerequisites.

In certain examples, the first virtual appliance of the exampleapparatus is to build a list of roles and associated rules and whereinthe first component server is to review the list of roles and executethe associated rules for each role in the list of roles to determinecompliance with the subset of prerequisites for the first role and otherroles in the list of roles.

In certain examples, the first component server of the example apparatusis to execute a second review of the list of roles based on aninstruction from the first virtual appliance, the first component serverto execute the error correction script associated with each prerequisitethat is not satisfied by the first component server from the subset ofprerequisites to bring the first component server into compliance withthe respective prerequisite.

In certain examples, the error correction script of the exampleapparatus includes a PowerShell script.

In certain examples, each of the subset of prerequisites is associatedwith two scripts: a prerequisite check script and the error correctionscript.

In certain examples, the apparatus further includes a second componentserver associated with at least a second role and a second subset ofprerequisites.

In certain examples, the first role includes at least one of a Webservice role, a manager service role, a database role, a distributedexecution manager role, or a proxy agent role.

Certain examples provide a method including deploying, by executing aninstruction with at least one processor, a first virtual appliance, thefirst virtual appliance including a management endpoint, the firstvirtual appliance to organize tasks to be executed to install acomputing infrastructure; installing, by executing an instruction withthe at least one processor, a first component server including a firstmanagement agent to communicate with the first management endpoint;assigning, via the first virtual appliance by executing an instructionwith the processor, a first role to the first component server;determining, by executing an instruction with the at least oneprocessor, a subset of prerequisites associated with the first role, thesubset of prerequisites selected from a plurality of prerequisites basedon an applicability of the subset of prerequisites to the first role,each of the subset of prerequisites associated with an error correctionscript; determining, via the first component server by executing aninstruction with the at least one processor, whether the first componentserver satisfies the subset of prerequisites associated with the firstrole; and addressing, via the first component server by executing aninstruction with the at least one processor, an error when the firstcomponent server is determined not to satisfy at least one of the subsetof prerequisites by executing the error correction script associatedwith the at least one of the subset of prerequisites.

In certain examples, the method includes building, via the first virtualappliance, a list of roles and associated rules; and reviewing, via thefirst component server, the list of roles and executing the associatedrules for each role in the list of roles to determine compliance withthe subset of prerequisites for the first role and other roles in thelist of roles.

In certain examples, the method further includes executing, via thefirst component server, a second review of the list of roles based on aninstruction from the first virtual appliance, the first component serverto execute the error correction script associated with each prerequisitethat is not satisfied by the first component server from the subset ofprerequisites to bring the first component server into compliance withthe respective prerequisite.

In certain examples, the error correction script includes a PowerShellscript.

In certain examples, each of the subset of prerequisites is associatedwith two scripts: a prerequisite check script and the error correctionscript.

In certain examples, a second component server is associated with atleast a second role and a second subset of prerequisites.

In certain examples, the first role includes at least one of a Webservice role, a manager service role, a database role, a distributedexecution manager role, or a proxy agent role.

Certain examples provide a computer readable storage medium includinginstructions that, when executed, cause a machine to at least: deploy afirst virtual appliance, the first virtual appliance including amanagement endpoint, the first virtual appliance to organize tasks to beexecuted to install a computing infrastructure; install a firstcomponent server including a first management agent to communicate withthe first management endpoint; assign, via the first virtual appliance,a first role to the first component server; determine a subset ofprerequisites associated with the first role, the subset ofprerequisites selected from a plurality of prerequisites based on anapplicability of the subset of prerequisites to the first role, each ofthe subset of prerequisites associated with an error correction script;determine, via the first component server, whether the first componentserver satisfies the subset of prerequisites associated with the firstrole; and address, via the first component server, an error when thefirst component server is determined not to satisfy at least one of thesubset of prerequisites by executing the error correction scriptassociated with the at least one of the subset of prerequisites.

In certain examples, the instructions, when executed, further cause themachine to: build, via the first virtual appliance, a list of roles andassociated rules; and review, via the first component server, throughthe list of roles and executing the associated rules for each role inthe list of roles to determine compliance with the subset ofprerequisites for the first role and other roles in the list of roles.

In certain examples, the instructions, when executed, further cause themachine to execute, via the first component server, a second review ofthe list of roles based on an instruction from the first virtualappliance, the first component server to execute the error correctionscript associated with each prerequisite that is not satisfied by thefirst component server from the subset of prerequisites to bring thefirst component server into compliance with the respective prerequisite.

In certain examples, each of the subset of prerequisites is associatedwith two scripts: a prerequisite check script and the error correctionscript.

In certain examples, the instructions, when executed, further install asecond component server associated with at least a second role and asecond subset of prerequisites.

In certain examples, the first role includes at least one of a Webservice role, a manager service role, a database role, a distributedexecution manager role, or a proxy agent role.

Although certain example methods, apparatus and articles of manufacturehave been disclosed herein, the scope of coverage of this patent is notlimited thereto. On the contrary, this patent covers all methods,apparatus and articles of manufacture fairly falling within the scope ofthe claims of this patent.

What is claimed is:
 1. A management agent system of a component server,the management agent system comprising: memory to store a configurationfor the component server and instructions; and a processor to executethe instructions to at least: process a subset of prerequisites selectedfrom a plurality of prerequisites based on a role assigned to thecomponent server to determine whether the configuration of the componentserver satisfies the subset of prerequisites; and address an error whenthe configuration does not satisfy at least one of the subset ofprerequisites by executing an error correction script associated withthe at least one of the subset of prerequisites to correct the error. 2.The system of claim 1, further including a communication interface toreceive the subset of prerequisites from a virtual appliance.
 3. Thesystem of claim 2, wherein the virtual appliance is to build a list ofroles and associated rules and wherein the component server is to reviewthe list of roles and execute the associated rules for each role in thelist of roles to determine compliance with the subset of prerequisitesfor the list of roles.
 4. The system of claim 1, wherein the errorcorrection script includes a PowerShell script.
 5. The system of claim1, wherein each of the subset of prerequisites is associated with twoscripts: a prerequisite check script and the error correction script. 6.The system of claim 1, wherein the role includes at least one of a Webservice role, a manager service role, a database role, a distributedexecution manager role, or a proxy agent role.
 7. The system of claim 1,wherein the processor includes: a prerequisite checker to evaluate theconfiguration to determine whether a rule associated with a prerequisitein the subset of prerequisites is satisfied by the configuration and logan error when the associated prerequisite is not satisfied by theconfiguration; and a prerequisite fixer to process the error to correctthe error to satisfy the associated prerequisite.
 8. A methodcomprising: processing, by executing an instruction using at least oneprocessor of a management agent of a component server, a subset ofprerequisites selected from a plurality of prerequisites based on a roleassigned to the component server to determine whether a configuration ofthe component server satisfies the subset of prerequisites; andaddressing, by executing an instruction using the at least oneprocessor, an error when the configuration does not satisfy at least oneof the subset of prerequisites by executing an error correction scriptassociated with the at least one of the subset of prerequisites tocorrect the error.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein executing the errorcorrection script includes executing a PowerShell script.
 10. The methodof claim 8, wherein processing the subset of prerequisites includesexecuting a prerequisite check script associated with the respectiveprerequisite.
 11. The method of claim 8, further including receiving thesubset of prerequisites from a virtual appliance.
 12. The method ofclaim 11, further including: exchanging commands between the managementagent and the virtual appliance when the error is corrected; andrebooting the component server based on the exchange of commands. 13.The method of claim 8, further including: building a list of roles andassociated rules; reviewing the list of roles; and executing theassociated rules for each role in the list of roles to determinecompliance with the subset of prerequisites for the list of roles. 14.The method of claim 8, further including validating the component serverwhen the subset of prerequisites is satisfied.
 15. A computer readablestorage medium comprising instructions that, when executed, cause atleast one processor of a management agent of a component server to atleast: process a subset of prerequisites selected from a plurality ofprerequisites based on a role assigned to the component server todetermine whether a configuration of the component server satisfies thesubset of prerequisites; and address an error when the configurationdoes not satisfy at least one of the subset of prerequisites byexecuting an error correction script associated with the at least one ofthe subset of prerequisites to correct the error.
 16. The computerreadable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, whenexecuted, cause the at least one processor to execute a PowerShellscript as the error correction script.
 17. The computer readable storagemedium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause theat least one processor to process the subset of prerequisites byexecuting a prerequisite check script associated with the respectiveprerequisite.
 18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 15,wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least oneprocessor to: exchange commands between the management agent and avirtual appliance when the error is corrected; and reboot the componentserver based on the exchange of commands.
 19. The computer readablestorage medium of claim 15, wherein the instructions, when executed,cause the at least one processor to: review a list of roles andassociated rules; and execute the associated rules for each role in thelist of roles to determine compliance with the subset of prerequisitesfor the list of roles.
 20. The computer readable storage medium of claim15, wherein the instructions, when executed, cause the at least oneprocessor to validate the component server when the subset ofprerequisites is satisfied.